Over the last 20 years, automotive audio has changed dramatically from being standard mono sound in one full-range loudspeaker to a true multichannel playback system fully integrated and adjusted to the specific car. Today some of the most advanced sound technologies are being developed and applied in automotive audio. Recently the role of audio in the automotive industry has significantly changed. Sound systems are used to design the sound of cars, i.e. the sound of the car itself due to its motion and thus generation of sound (usually called noise). The conference will give an overview of the present state-of-the-art in some specific topics, and addresses many of the new scientific disciplines involved in this still-emerging field. Automotive Audio involves combinations of otherwise complementary scientific fields such as power electronics, bus systems, loudspeaker drive units, signal processing (DSP), acoustics & vibrations (NVH) and more.

Over the last 20 years, automotive audio has changed dramatically from being standard mono sound in one full-range loudspeaker to a true multichannel playback system fully integrated and adjusted to the specific car. Today some of the most advanced sound technologies are being developed and applied in automotive audio. Recently the role of audio in the automotive industry has significantly changed. Sound systems are used to design the sound of cars, i.e. the sound of the car itself due to its motion and thus generation of sound (usually called noise). The conference will give an overview of the present state-of-the-art in some specific topics, and addresses many of the new scientific disciplines involved in this still-emerging field. Automotive Audio involves combinations of otherwise complementary scientific fields such as power electronics, bus systems, loudspeaker drive units, signal processing (DSP), acoustics & vibrations (NVH) and more.

Before the flight that would become historic no matter how it ended, the pilot said this to posterity: “With risks you gain.” He said, “I’ve got a theory about this.” The flight in 1962 would rank him with other brothers from Ohio who were first in flight, 50 years before. The President in this pilot’s time said that we choose to do these things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard. The pilot had thought about it and said, “People are afraid of the future, of the unknown.” And then he explained the challenge, “If a man faces up to it and takes the dare of the future, he can have some control over his destiny.” The dare of the future. “That’s an exciting idea to me, better than waiting with everybody else to see what’s going to happen.” Remembering this is to continue inspiring the next wave of thought to reach beyond what we know.

The PSY (X) Difference

There are many algorithms that attempt to provide an improved spatial experience in a car. – This is not a tuning algorithm, and it is not dependent on any type or level of EQ. It enhances the audio by restoring the quality and detail of the source.

PSY (X) Research began their work investigating ways to improve poor hearing situations caused by hearing loss or listening fatigue. Understanding the physiology and processing of human hearing where sounds are lost or where sounds are masked by fatigue, and recovering them or unmasking them, gave PSY (X)Research the precise understanding of how to improve another poor listening situation in the modern audio age: digital audio.

All digital audio is processed by Analog to Digital and Digital to Analog CODECs, which are all imperfect. In the processing of CODECs, sounds are lost or artifacts are created which mask other sounds. As in hearing loss, or listening fatigue, and the imperfections of digital audio, the loss and masking from artifacts cause the sound stage to be narrowed and lack clarity.

→ PSY (X)recovers the clarity and widens the sound stage by removing the problems created by everyday digital audio.

In July of 2014, Konzept-X GmbH and JJR Acoustics, LLC, Martinsville, USA, announced that they had entered into a strategic partnership in the area of multiphysical simulation. Under the agreement, partners intend to offer multiphysical simulation solutions to the car manufacturers in the U.S.A., South Korea, Japan and China.

In the years since that dynamic start, with a simulation of acoustic properties of a sound system, one reputable Automotive OEM after another witnessed the success of the unique MOVID simulation methodology.

The idea of the Konzept-X name was tailored to generating and marketing patents and new techonologies. Today, the focus is on Virtual Acoustics and Sound Design according to this in-house development of the MVOID methodology. In 2016, with the launch of two new MVOID modules: Virtual Tuning and Auralization, the simulations come to life — they are made audible!

There is utmost concentration on the MVOID methodology now, and to that end, Konzept-X is now doing business under the same name as the product: MVOID.

Let’s begin with the important acoustic measurements we know of from a speaker in a listening room:

Direct Sound, Early Reflections, Late Reflections: which constitute our reception of Sound Power in a room, which contributes to our perception of sound [Sound Reproduction: The Acoustics and Psychoacoustics of Loudspeakers and Rooms, Floyd E. Toole, Focal Press, 2008, pp.27-141].

We’ve seen the importance of the combination of direct sound and the ratio of reflections to our perception of mid and high frequency speakers in a car. What we discover is in a small room, such as a car, what we are receiving is Sound Power. We need a reliable way to measure sound power in a car, for any localized listening position.

Geddes began “ in order to … know exactly what the room’s frequency response is before it can be corrected, … single-point microphone measurements lack sufficient stability to be useful for sound system equalization. A new measurement procedure was developed which has proven to yield significantly better results. Using this technique one can obtain a one-third-octave measurement of the acoustic frequency response with a 90% confidence of having no greater than a 0.5-dB expected error. This level of accuracy is necessary for ‘unambiguous’ sound system equalization.”

Geddes continues, explaining the transition region we experienced with speakers in a room and why a single mic is not stable enough.

With the advent of autonomous cars, once the job of driving isn’t needed, what sensation is left to captivate the driver? We will be the captain of the car, but no longer the driver; our seat will literally shift away from concentrating on the road, and our role will shift. The tactile sensation of the road will be distant from us then. What is left to us? What can captivate us?

Even though our vision is considered the most subtle and complex of all our senses, our hearing is more valuable for giving us a sense of place and direction, and for giving us a sense of comfort or discomfort.

At a media preview event, held at the firm’s Namyang research and development center on Wednesday, the Korean automaker made it clear
that its Niro hybrid SUV will target three major compact SUVs in the local market — SsangYong’s Tivoli, Renault Samsung’s QM3 and GM Korea’s Chevrolet Trax.

“The company has adopted a strategic pricing policy for Niro to compete with the highest trim of rivals,’’ said Seo Bo-won from Kia’s domestic marketing unit.

KRELL 8 speaker, 8 channel amplifier, Premium Sound is available in the top two premium options for the KIA Niro: The Prestige and Noblesse trim level (with the Kappa 1.6 GDI engine and a 32-kilowatt electric motor that provides 141 horsepower).

The audio system with the KRELL Premium Sound comes with 4 6.5″ woofers and a dual coil 8″ subwoofer, in a rear quarter panel enclosure.

The KIA Niro tuning provides system performance that reflects KRELL’s three performance goals:

Musical Detail

Three-dimensional sound presentation

Extreme volume dynamic capability

KRELL sound is lively and unconstrained, evoking a live performance and the true instrumental sound, recreating the recording the way the musicians intended listeners to experience.

A KRELL system does not draw attention to itself but presents a precise, energetic presentation with an openness that demonstrates to the listener that no compromises were made during the development of the product.

To achieve these performance goals the tuning activities focused on providing a balanced spectral presentation on all channels, provide a well-defined sound stage that extends to the left and right edge of the instrument panel with a focused center image, and a level of envelopment that allows the listener a sense of the recording space, while maintaining uncompromised dynamic capability.

Kia Motors Corp., Korea’s second-ranked carmaker, said Tuesday that it has sold more than 10,000 units of its all-new K7 sedan since its launch by appealing to relatively young people with its upgraded features and affordability, company officials said.

The sales figure included around 7,500 preorders received before its official launch last week. The daily orders for the second-generation K7 were estimated at 660 units, larger than 483 units sold every day for its previous model, according to the officials.

Those in their 40s were its main targeted customer group but the latest contract data showed that relatively younger customers are also showing keen interest in the all-new K7.

More than four out of every 10 customers cited the head-up display as one of the most sought-after options, followed by the premium KRELL audio system with 37.1 percent, and the driving safety pack with 35.4 percent, a survey conducted by the company showed.